


Ways Of Breaking

by Shadow_of_Quill



Series: Let's Break Papyrus [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Frisk as Player, Gen, neutral/evil Frisk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-07-11 12:18:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7050664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_of_Quill/pseuds/Shadow_of_Quill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a few rounds against Sans, Frisk decides to unwind with a nice Run. Someone doesn't play the role he's supposed to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Cracks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ZekeStrife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZekeStrife/gifts).



Frisk opens eir eyes to find emself floating in darkness, before the familiar glowing buttons.

RESET CONTINUE

Ey giggles, hugging emself with triumph. Oh, Sans killed em again - but now _ey knows his patterns_. The next time ey fights him? _He'll lose._

Chara is silent in eir mind, waiting blankly for em to make eir choice. It's interesting, how Chara is shaped by eir choices as much as the Underground is. During eir milder runs, Chara is a snarky commenter with badly-hidden fondness developing in their voice, but when Frisk chooses to let out eir vicious streak, well...

Frisk wonders what Chara's comments will be like if Frisk RESETs and chooses to be friendly again. It wouldn't be a bad thing to spend another run befriending everyone. Raising eir LV might be efficient, but it's also... boring. Lonely.

Besides, this way ey'll get to see Papyrus again! He's rather goofy, and Frisk isn't honestly sure how bright he is, but there's something very nice about having that much blind faith shown in em.

Ey nods to emself. Ey can enjoy a run or two before ey finally defeat Sans. (If only Sans was less of a coward... then ey wouldn't have to kill _everyone_ else ey can find just to face _him._ But, on the other hand, ey isn't sure ey'd want to see how betrayed Papyrus would look if he knew about em killing his brother.)

Decision made, ey RESETs.

 

Toriel is mildly wary around em, mothering urges conflicting with her almost-memories. Frisk is glad that ey knows how to spare her, now; ey makes it through the Ruins without gaining a single Execution Point.

Ey'd forgotten how much fun it can be to get past monsters using agility and guile, instead of brutality.

Flowey greets em at the door, looking unimpressed with eir change of tactics, but ey doesn't pay much attention to his complaints. It's not like ey'll be finishing with this run, after all - this is just a nice break before ey goes back to facing Sans.

Sans is not as happy to see em as he sometimes is, but Frisk knew that was a risk - he remembers a little more clearly than the other monsters, after all. But he leads em to where Papyrus is, and ey 'hides' behind the lamp and waits to hear Papyrus say -

"SANS! HAVE YOU FOUND A HUMAN YET?"

...That's - not right.

Sans seems a little offput by his brother going offscript, too. "uh... you wanna look at this lamp, bro? it's really cool."

Papyrus falters, looking at - where Frisk would be. Where ey stands when ey isn't bothering to play along with the puzzles and games. He looks strange - nervous, maybe - before, "SANS!! YOU ARE NOT HELPING!! YOU LAZYBONES!! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!!!"

That's... still not _right,_ but it's closer to what it should be. Frisk thinks. After so many attempts to kill Sans in a row, it's not surprising that eir memories of how Papyrus reacts to other behaviour might be wrong.

Ey tries to ignore the falseness in both the skeleton brothers' smiles.

Chara is a tense silence in eir head.

 

Things aren't improved when ey reaches eir second encounter with the brothers.

"WHEN'S THE HUMAN SHOWING UP?"

"didn't you have something to say about Undyne?" Sans asks, sounding a little desperate. After what ey's seen from him, Frisk is pretty sure that means a lot more panic is going on beneath the surface.

The brothers spin.

"SANS!!! OH MY GOD!!!!

"I'M DIZZY. WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?"

"uh... i think that's a rock?" Sans tries. Papyrus blinks.

"OH."

"hey, what's that in front of the rock?"

"OH MY GOD!!!" Frisk tenses slightly, sees Sans doing the same. "(IS... IS THAT A HUMAN)" They both relax.

"(yes)" Sans responds, and the conversation goes on as it should, with Papyrus monologuing about how popular and amazing he will be after capturing Frisk and then running off.

Sans and Frisk look at each other in silence for a moment, and Frisk wonders if Sans will go offscript, too.

"...don't sweat it, kid." Sans winks. "i'll keep an eyesocket out for ya."

 

Monster after monster arrives. Frisk dodges, pets, laughs, ignores, steals eir way towards the town - and towards eir next encounter with the brothers.

It goes as it should, and ey can't quite hold in eir sigh of relief. Whatever is making Papyrus act so strangely, it hasn't changed him to the point of letting Frisk tackle dangerous puzzles without a demonstration of how to do so safely.

Sans seems to agree with em. "hey, thanks... my brother seems like he's... having... fun?" There's a moment of awkward silence between them both before he continues with the usual speech about Papyrus' outfit.

Frisk listens, and tries to pretend that everything is normal, that ey's still enjoying emself - that nothing's changed.

It seems like Sans is doing the same thing.

Neither of them are succeeding.

 

The puzzles are switched on. Frisk goes through them, pretending that ey's solving them (again) instead of just remembering the correct moves.

Papyrus doesn't appear. It's less fun to 'solve' the rings puzzle without his cheerful rambling about 'PASSIONATE PUZZLATEERS' or bright cheering.

Sans says his usual lines, carefully not looking at the spot where Papyrus should have been standing.

 

The floor tiles play out as usual, Papyrus' explanation just as it should be. He spins away just as he should, too, and Frisk wants so badly to believe that this is a good sign, but something is starting to prickle down the back of eir neck every time ey sees Papyrus and doesn't know how he'll act.

(I wonder if this is how they feel about you,) Chara muses.

Frisk ignores the murmur. It's not the same - the monsters don't remember, not really, not the way Frisk does.

It's not the same at all.

 

The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror comes up. Frisk relaxes again when Papyrus declares it "TOO EASY" instead of saying that ey was "PROBABLY GOING TO WALK THROUGH IT."

For a moment, something bitter flashes across Sans' face as they look at each other once Papyrus has moved on, and Frisk narrows eir eyes, _daring_ him to say the wrong lines the way his brother is. It wouldn't be threatening from him, just pathetic, a reminder that he knows what happens when Frisk RESETs and is helpless to stop em.

Sans doesn't take em up on eir dare. He doesn't say anything. He just leaves after his brother, and Frisk tries not to understand the message that Frisk - a _Human,_ someone who can rewrite Time at eir whim - is less important to him than his brother.

Frisk tries to ignore the hope in eir heart that Sans will be able to find out what's wrong with Papyrus and help him. Frisk tries to ignore the guilty suspicion that _ey's_ responsible for whatever's wrong with Papyrus.

Frisk tries to ignore all of it, and return to the simple joy ey felt when ey started this Run.

Ey doesn't succeed.

 

After seeing Snowdin abandoned so often, it's oddly cheering to be faced with the townsfolk.

At first.

"Usually one of the skeletons chases my little Cinnamon around."

"That's strange. There was a present here for Papyrus... Now it's gone. Did someone steal it?"

Frisk goes to the Hotel - surely a nap will help em make sense of things?

It doesn't, but seeing the hotel owner and her child is comforting, a reassurance that not everyone here is acting strangely. After the Hotel, ey goes to Grillbys.

Ey soon wishes ey hadn't.

"H-hey, isn't Sansy s'posed to come swinging in right about now???"

No. Oh, no.

"Hmmm, this is around the time that Sans comes in."

"Papyrus? Is that you?"

Frisk backs away, then turns and runs. What's going on?

On eir way out of town, ey tries one last time to get the comment ey should have heard. Instead, "Just now, I felt my smile falter for a moment."

So did Frisk.

 

The path is chilling, the air slowly filling with ice-crystals that act like a fog. When Frisk has gone so far ey can only see silhouettes in front of them, a familiar tall figure steps out.

Frisk takes a breath, hoping -

"HALT, HUMAN!" _No._

"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY." Frisk shakes eir head slowly, silently pleading.

"IT FEELS..." Frisk's eyes start to burn. _No. No, Papyrus, please..._

"LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH." _It's not, not this time, Papyrus, please - you're meant to be boasting, you're meant to be saying how wonderful you are, **please** -_

"HOWEVER!

"I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL WITHIN YOU!" _I'm living up to it!_ Frisk wants to shriek the words, but they're stuck in eir throat as Papyrus continues, "EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY!" _I **am,** I am trying, Papyrus, please, I'm being so good this time, Papyrus, **please** -_ "AND ME, I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Frisk dashes the tears out of eir eyes before they can freeze.

"HEY, QUIT MOVING! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!"

Frisk stares up at him and starts to cry in earnest. Papyrus is supposed to be asking to be eir friend. He's supposed to be boasting and cheerful and - and - _not_ this, not reminding Frisk with every word of all the times ey's killed monsters - ey hasn't, not this time, not this Run! Ey's innocent now!

**Papyrus isn't supposed to remind em that ey's a murderer!**

Papyrus' pose doesn't change at all. He just keeps talking.

It's as if he doesn't even care that ey's crying.

It's as if he doesn't even _care...._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is Let's Break Papyrus, but I got distracted by how painful it would be for Frisk - realising that you are such a terrible person that trying to believe in you has cost him his sanity.
> 
> ...Not sure this has the punch I wanted it to. Meh. Next chapter will be the monsters' POV - especially Sans'. (If it ever gets written...)


	2. Shatter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Sorry? Would you believe that I expected to have this written a day or two after the last one?
> 
> (Carefully avoids looking at dates.)
> 
> I started this chapter, but I got the part where Papyrus breaks down wrong, and it took a long while to get enough distance to rewrite it. (Link to flawed version on lj in the endnotes.)
> 
> ...Sorry? Again?

"WOWIE! YOU DID IT! YOU DIDN'T DO A VIOLENCE!"

Alphys breathes a sigh of relief as the lens of her camera finally clears, showing the human and Papyrus are both fine. Her relief fades as Papyrus continues, smiling as brightly as ever, "TO BE HONEST, I AM A LITTLE AFRAID... BUT YOU CAN BECOME A GREAT PERSON! I'M SO PROUD I COULD CRY!!!"

The human _is_ crying as Papyrus talks, but he doesn't seem to notice.

Alphys hunches in on herself, glancing at her phone worriedly. She hadn't had a clue how to react when Sans asked her to spy on his brother and the human - he isn't supposed to even _know_ about her secret cameras! - but it looks like he has good reason to be worried.

She's just not sure what she should do now. Tell him? Not tell him? Try and talk to Papyrus?

She looks back at that bright grin, and shudders. Maybe not that last one.

She barely knows him, but it's all too easy to see that something is very wrong with Sans' brother.

 

Sans is about to take a shortcut to his Waterfall sentry station - can't lose track of the human _(Frisk)_ after all - when there's a flash of yellow at his feet. He stares in confusion as a bright yellow flower pushes out of the ground and says, "Howdy!"

Seeing that it won't get a response, the flower fixes him with a cynical smile. "Worried about your brother?" Sans glowers - hadn't Papyrus told him something about a golden flower, hadn't he dismissed it - and the flower continues, "I sure am! Tell you what, you get Alphys to put a new camera up at that section of the cliff between Snowdin and Waterfall she never bothered with - I'm sure she'll know where I mean - and I'll get him over there and see if I can get him to talk!"

It vanishes back underground before Sans can say anything. He hesitates, then swings around to head for their house - Papyrus vanished after his talk with the human, he might have gone home; Sans doesn't really believe he has, but it's something to comfort himself with.

Two steps forwards, there's another flash of yellow in front of him. The flower grins innocently. "You should probably have Undyne there, too. I mean, unless you _really trust_ Alphys not to let her see the recordings... I'd say bring all his friends, but, heh!" It laughs like it's saying something incredibly funny. "That IS just you and Undyne, right?"

It goes again. Sans is tense, waiting, but it doesn't return to make any more strange (vicious) comments.

He grabs his phone, every move uncharacteristically sharp with suppressed violence, and calls Alphys to ask for a quick favour. It's not that he trusts the flower to keep its word - but he thinks that it'll drag Papyrus to 'that section of the cliff' whether or not there are cameras there, so he might as well try and find out what's going on.

He doesn't mention the flower when he talks to Alphys, of course. That would just sound ridiculous.

Wouldn't it?

 

Flowey tries not to giggle to himself. It might tip Papyrus off that there's something more going on here than just Flowey wanting to talk about his little breakdown; Flowey _does_ want that, but he also wants to mess up the human's Run, and what better way than to remove a major appearance by having the person who's meant to show up be busy somewhere else?

Besides, Undyne's reaction to hearing about the RESETs should be pretty interesting! Flowey's _really_ looking forwards to it, even if all he'll get to see is the aftermath. He's played with her enough to be pretty confident he can piece together what she does just from that, anyway.

So long as Smiley bothers to get her involved, of course. Flowey _had_ thought of fetching her himself, but - better not to distract her with something to blame him for. And this way he gets to play innocent if Papyrus asks about it!

...Papyrus isn't asking about anything, at the moment. He's just sat, hugging his knees and staring at the cliff-face.

Flowey pouts. Partly because Papyrus is being boring, and partly because if Papyrus _keeps_ staring like that he might see the newly-positioned camera (and doesn't it say such _wonderful_ things about Alphys that the only thing she's any use for is setting up ways to spy on people? Flowey will have to bring this up with Papyrus at some point, see if he'll still defend her after knowing about this).

He leans forward on his stem.

"Papyrus, you've been upsetting the human..." he coos.

 

In Waterfall, Frisk stares up at an empty crag. Beside em, Monster Kid sighs with disappointment. "I was _sure_ I'd get to see Captain Undyne!" they complain.

They should have.

(Maybe she's running late,) Chara says tartly.

"She must be further on!" Monster Kid decides, and charges deeper into Waterfall.

Frisk follows them, unaware of the two points of change: a section of cliff in Waterfall... and Alphy's lab.

 

Sans stares at the screen showing his brother with empty sockets, pointedly ignoring Undyne's furious muttering as she looks between him and the image of Papyrus being talked at by the plant. Alphys hovers on Undyne's other side, torn between nerves at the situation and her guilty pleasure in having an excuse to be so close to her crush (seriously, it's ridiculous how obvious she is. Sans would maybe try to help her if it weren't for the time-loops making it pointless). Mettaton is hanging out at the back of the room, and Sans would complain about that but really, the Anomaly's probably gonna start a new loop pretty soon anyway, so what does it matter if someone else sees this? _They_ won't remember.

The thought sounds pretty hollow, but it's all he has to reassure him he isn't going too far, so he clings tightly to it.

On screen, _the flower pouts again as Papyrus doesn't respond to its words. It sprouts a vine that winds carefully around one of Papyrus' arms, easing under his glove and slowly pushing it off to reveal itself winding through the bones in his hands. "Papyrus..." it says warningly._

_Papyrus doesn't react._

_The vine tenses, tightens, and Papyrus' metacarpals start to creak._

Everyone in Alphys' viewing room freezes at the silent threat. Undyne's spear crackles into existence between her hands.

_Papyrus blinks, looking at his hand and then at the flower. "OH, HELLO, FLOWEY! I AM SORRY, HAVE I BEEN IGNORING YOU?"_

_The flower snorts, smug and satisfied_ in a way that makes Sans itch to summon a few Blasters. Undyne's spear slices through the air beside him as she growls, telling him wordlessly that he isn't the only one wanting to fight.

_"You sure were! But don't worry," it giggles, "lucky for you, I know JUST how to get your attention. Don't I?" The vine woven through Papyrus' hand flexes, making his bones creak louder._

_Papyrus looks at it again, as if he didn't really take in what he was seeing the first time, then cringes and looks back at the flower apologetically. "I AM SO SORRY! I REALLY DIDN'T REALISE I WAS THAT BURIED IN MY OWN HEAD!"_

_The flower looks cynical, bored. "Sure." It smiles brightly. "Wanna tell me what you were thinking?"_

_"I..." Papyrus trails off. His attention drops back to his hand, and he starts flexing it inside the vine._

_The vine moves with him as the flower frowns and smiles - both at once - and scolds him, "Now, you know that won't work!" Its face - shifts, hollow-eyed and fanged. "This is for if **I** want to hurt you." And then the frightening change vanishes, and it smiles brightly again. "You'll have to use something else if you want to hurt yourself!"_

"What was that?" Mettaton asks, startled. Sans doesn't even try to make a joke - he noticed the change, of course he did, it wasn't exactly subtle, but he's also noticed that this - thing - seems to think Papyrus wants to hurt himself, is _used_ to the thought of Papyrus wanting to hurt himself, and that's a lot more important than some weird appearances. Undyne's snarl says she's more intent on the part about the flower wanting to hurt Pap, and that's - that's important, too, but they can get him away from the flower.

They can't get him away from himself.

 _Papyrus nods, absently, and starts looking around._ Sans feels queasy as he realises what Pap must be looking for _(use something else if you want to hurt yourself)_ but before he can find anything, _the flower gives a sharp little click of its teeth and a new vine yanks Papyrus' head up to look at it again. Too many teeth show in a jagged smile. **"DON'T IGnore me, Papyrus."**_

"How many creepy faces does this weirdo have?" Undyne hisses incredulously.

"And why is your dear brother so used to them?" Mettaton chimes in, drawing her attention to the one thing Sans wants her not to notice.

Before he can do more than laugh weakly, _Papyrus leans forwards and looks the flower over closely as it shrinks back to normal. "YOU AREN'T INJURED AT ALL, ARE YOU?"_

_The flower rolls its eyes and says flatly, "I'm fine, silly. We're talking about what's wrong with YOU."_

_"NOTHING!"_

_The flower gives him a hard shake, somewhere between trying to punish him and trying to give him whiplash._ Undyne's spear slams into the floor, a second and third appearing above her. There's a reflected flicker of blue - Sans notices it, and takes a deep breath as he tries to push his emotions down - this doesn't matter, he can keep his cool... It's not like it's permanent...

_The flower's voice is completely flat. "It's not nice to lie."_

_Papyrus shrugs, smile wavering. "I... I SUPPOSE I WENT A LITTLE OFFSCRIPT TODAY, HUH?"_

_The flower giggles, letting up as Papyrus pays attention to it. "I'll say!" The hollow-eyed look returns. "You're scaring people, Papyrus." And then its face is normal, and it winks as it sticks out its tongue. "I mean, it's been pretty funny watching the human and Smiley Trashbag -"_

_"DON'T CALL MY BROTHER THAT," Papyrus interjects with the weariness of long habit._

"What an uninspired nickname! Whenever did you meet that flower?" Mettaton says. Sans doesn't have an answer. (Something about... vines around bones...?)

_The flower ignores Papyrus, continuing, "- glare at each other about whose fault it is, especially since it's obvious - I mean, the human's the only one who does anything different, fergoshakes -"_

"Different?" Undyne asks skeptically. Alphys looks worried, looks intent, and Sans -

Sans doesn't quite realise that the sudden blue cast on the screen is from his eyes glowing. "(shut up, stop talking -)" If this thing keeps being so blunt about the time-repeats, Papyrus is going to ask what it means, and - all Sans' work to keep it from him -

_"- well, except this time," and the damn flower giggles. Again._

_Papyrus looks nervous, head jerking against the vine holding it as if he wants to go back to scanning the ground. "I DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY THE WRONG THING..."_

_The flower leans forward with an expression of sympathy that can only be described as mocking. "Then why did you?" It bats its eyelashes. "Have you been losing track?"_

"Losing track of what?" Undyne demands. Sans is shoving his fists deep in his pockets, trying to play it cool, trying not to hear this -

_"That'd be funny, wouldn't it? That'd be - gee, that'd be IRONIC, huh?" The flower seems to taste the word. "I mean, you're practically the record-keeper, aren't you?"_

"...what?" Sans is vaguely aware that his voice is a lot softer than he meant it to be. His gathering magic fades with his confusion.

"Record-keeper?" Undyne repeats, looking between him and Alphys. Seeing that neither of them have any idea what the flower means, she scowls, twirling her spear, and glares harder at the screen as if trying to force the conversation to make sense.

_Papyrus sighs heavily. "I..." He trails off._

_"Oh, don't worry! If you're getting a little confused, well, I'll help, friend!" The flower claps its leaves together. "Now, how many times has the human killed Toriel before this Run?"_

_"SEVENTY-TWO," Papyrus says immediately._

Sans stops. Stops breathing. Stops moving. Stops thinking.

"What're they talking about?" Undyne demands, stabbing in the screen's direction but not puncturing it.

Sans doesn't respond. He's stopped listening, too. To everyone except his little brother and his strange questioner...

_"And how many times has the human killed Toriel including this Run?"_

_"SEVENTY-TWO." Papyrus sounds doubtful this time._

_"So Toriel's still alive for now!" The flower bounces happily on its stem._

"For now?!"

_"How many froggits has the human killed before this Run?"_

_"NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN." The answer is certain, oddly emotionless - as if he's reading a print-out instead of discussing mass-murder._

_"And including this run?"_

_"...NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN."_

"What. The. Fuck." Undyne's spear is twisting slower as her confusion outweighs her aggravation.

"I-I'm not sure there _are_ that m-many froggits in the Underground," Alphys tells them. "B-but if the human can k-kill people mmmore than once..."

_"And how many moldsmal has the human killed before this Run?"_

_"ONE THOUSAND AND TWO."_

_"And including this Run?"_

_Papyrus looks confused as he answers, "...ONE THOUSAND AND TWO...?"_

_"So the human hasn't killed any moldsmal this Run!" The flower bounces. "And how many migosps has the human killed before this Run?"_

No one can think of anything to say. They just sit in confused and horrified silence (punctuated by Undyne's growled expletives) as the flower takes Papyrus through a list of monsters and names, asking how many of each of them the human has killed (how many times the human has killed them) and getting insanely high numbers in answer each time. It's hard to say which part is worse - the callous glee the flower shows, or the fact that Papyrus seems more disturbed by the fact that the human hasn't killed anything 'this Run'.

Sans is staring blankly at the wall instead of the screen when _the flower asks, "And how many times has the human killed YOU before this Run?"_

_"FIFTY-THREE."_

The wall vanishes into a cloud of dust and rubble. A screech and crackle beside Sans suggest that a certain patch of floor has met a similar fate.

Sans turns slowly to meet Undyne's eye, glowing with fury. "THAT HUMAN IS GONNA DIE!" she hiss/screams. He wants to agree, wants to so badly, but this _won't even matter next time -_

_"And how many times has the human killed you including this Run?"_

_"FIFTY...THREE..."_

_The plant giggles. "Gee, you sound like you thought you'd died again!" It surges forward, hollow-eyed and fanged, dragging more of itself out of the ground till it towers over him. **"I can fix that for you if you'd like."**_

_Papyrus blinks at it, and starts to giggle._ The sound drags Sans' and Undyne's attention back to the screen, to see _Papyrus is giggling wildly, hysterically - he sags forwards onto the flower's stem, sobbing for breath as he keeps laughing._

"That is not a normal response to a death-threat, darlings," Mettaton comments. He must have been biting his robotic tongue to keep silent till now, a tiny part of Sans thinks. Undyne jabs in his direction with her spear, but doesn't look away from the screen.

_The flower loses its terrifying expression in favour of a look that says clearer than words could that it has no idea how to respond to this. It gingerly presses one thick leaf against Papyrus' back like a hand, and starts rubbing it in circles._

"Nor is that a normal response to having a death-threat ignored."

"U-uhm." Alphys fidgets nervously, glancing between the screen and Undyne. "M-Maybe it's an... an in-j-joke?"

"Seriously?" Undyne asks incredulously. Her eye stops glowing, but she continues, "That WEED sure didn't seem like it was joking to me!"

"But it ain't hurting him," Sans points out, letting the idea ground him a little, give him some distance. An in-joke. (dusty vines around bones) Right. (fire and blasts and screaming till his fused jaw cracks open) Just a joke.

"RRAAAAGH!" More spears puncture the floor (Alphys must have reinforced it in hopes of Undyne visiting).

They sit in silence punctuated by Undyne's temper tantrum, watching as _Papyrus has hysterics that somehow never progress from giggling to outright crying._ It's the creepiest thing any of them has ever seen - as if, even when he's literally breaking down, some part of Papyrus refuses to stop being cheerful. Seeming cheerful. Acting cheerful. (God, how long has Papyrus' happy nature been an act, how the _fuck_ has Sans not noticed it before now -)

_The giggles slowly taper off, until Papyrus is sat breathing heavily, slumped against the flower's stem._

_"Feel better?" the flower asks brightly. Papyrus nods, not bothering to speak. "Great! So tell me -" it shifts to a distorted version of the too-many-teeth expression - "what was THAT about."_

_Papyrus gives a soft huff, too drained to put his usual energy into it. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN."_

"RRRGH!" Undyne snarls, and for one horrible moment Sans is sure he and she are both on the side of the flower as _it shakes Papyrus again, harder._

_Papyrus lets it._

_"No one's dead! No one's dead, no one's dead," the flower starts chanting, sounding frustrated as it tries to shake the meaning of the words into Papyrus' mind._

_"NO ONE'S... NO ONE'S..." Papyrus reaches up to clutch at the vines. "NO ONE'S DEAD?" he asks, and his voice is lost, confused._

_The flower stops with a final shake, moving to prodding him in the chest with a vine. "No. One. Is. Dead."_

_Papyrus shivers. "NO ONE..."_ The look on his face - Papyrus has always been expressive, but this is an expression none of the observers have seen before on anyone. Hope is part of what makes a monster's soul. It's not supposed to _hurt_.

_"BUT THEY... They have to..." he says, voice softer than most people know is possible for him._

Even Undyne is silenced by the comment.

_"Have to?" the flower asks, surprised. It smiles brightly, but there's something very obviously fake about it. "Gee, Papyrus, I thought you didn't agree with me that it's kill or be killed! Glad you've changed your mind!"_

_Papyrus pulls himself together enough to look reprimanding. "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN! THE HUMAN SETS THEMSELF GOALS, LIKE FINDING OUT HOW TO GET PAST THE DOGS WITHOUT USING THEIR STICK, OR MAKING FRIENDS WITH UNDYNE,"_

"WHAT?!!" Undyne roars over his next example. "I'D NEVER BE FRIENDS WITH A SNEAKY MURDERER LIKE THAT!!!"

"T-timeloops," Alphys whispers, eyes wide.

_"OR -" his voice catches - "OR TRYING TO MAKE BP FIGHT THEM..."_

_The flower looks startled. "Wait, was THAT what the bunch of weird runs with different kills was for?"_

"Who in the Underground is BP?" Mettaton asks, puzzled. Sans shrugs - he halfway thinks it might be Burgerpants, but why would the human be so desperate to fight _him?_

_Papyrus nods glumly. "THEY - THEY TRIED A **LOT** BEFORE THEY ACCEPTED THAT BP WON'T FIGHT THEM. AND WITH BRATTY AND CATTY." He looks down, picking at his scarf as if trying to find a loose thread. "THAT'S WHAT THEY DO, FLOWEY. THEY CHOOSE A GOAL, AND THEY DON'T STOP TILL THEY REACH IT OR PROVE IT'S IMPOSSIBLE." His face crumples. "A-AND - AN-D - TH-TH-THEY WANT -" He buries his face in his hands and wails._

_"Oh, come here, you crybaby," the flower grumbles, hugging him close again. "You know, you don't make nearly so much FUSS when it's YOU being killed."_

A creeping sense of horror fills the observers as that comment fits with the flower's earlier offer to kill Papyrus, paralyzing them all with sheer disbelief. Undyne is frozen in her seat. Mettaton is completely speechless. Sans is blank, vacantly listening as this - _thing_ continues.

_Papyrus cries harder. "I'M - I'M **TIRED** OF IT, FLOWEY, I'M SO TIRED OF ALWAYS BEING AWARE OF WHAT THE HUMAN DOES, I'M TIRED OF SEEING WHAT THEY DO EVEN AFTER THEY KILL ME,"_

"what?!" Sans is the only one jolted out of his shock by that comment. For everyone else, it's just one more impossibility, but for Sans, aware of the time-loops the same way he's aware of the 'doors' he teleports through, this is the first thing mentioned that he thinks _shouldn't_ be possible, instead of him not _wanting_ it to be possible.

_"I'M SO TIRED OF WATCHING THEM KI-KILL EVERYONE, AND **I DON'T WANT TO WATCH THEM KILL SANS!** "_

_"They might not," the flower offers in a lilting voice, as if it's making fun of him._

_Papyrus just shakes his head. "THEY ALMOST DID! AND - AND THEY'LL KNOW - THEY'VE LEARNED HIS MOVES, THEY'LL - THEY'LL -" he dissolves back into sobbing._

_The flower rocks him absently. "Well, it won't be the first time you've seen him die."_

None of the observers like the sound of that.

_Papyrus sobs harder. "BU-BUT YOU CA-A-AN'T RE-ESET NOOOW!"_

_Black fury fills the flower's face._

"It did not like hearing that, darlings," Mettaton murmurs. No one responds, too intent on the screen.

To their suprise, _instead of taking its anger out on Papyrus as it threatened to do earlier, the flower forces itself to relax. "That's just till the human leaves," it says through gritted teeth._

_Papyrus shakes his head again. "NO, IT'S NOT." The words have the same unfeeling certainty as his earlier recitation of deaths. It's unnerving, seeing his emotions just vanish while he's talking. The break to his crying seems to pull him out of it, and he sits back to start wiping the tears from his face._

_The flower's lip curls. "Well, I suppose you'd know." It twists just far enough to catch sight of the camera, and a very nasty smile splits its face. "It's such a SHAME you can't warn him."_

"What's with that look?" Undyne mutters, a fresh spear crackling into existence. Sans is even more confused than she is - he's _being_ warned, and the flower knows that because it set this up in the first place!

_"What was it, four times he Fell Down?"_

It's like frozen water is pouring down Sans' spine. "(shut up, shut. up.)" The blue glow is back.

Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, are all torn between the screen and Sans. Sans has no idea, has no attention to spare when he's trying so hard to remember, to not remember -

_"THREE," Papyrus corrects it. "I - I LET HIM KNOW I REMEMBER FOUR TIMES, AND HE FELL DOWN THREE."_

_"Oh, that's right!" The flower smiles, winks, suddenly bright and cheerful again. "Gee, I don't think he EVER Fell Down when you didn't tell him, did he?"_

_::HE ONLY FALLS DOWN WHEN I TELL HIM::_

"no," Sans whispers, trying to deny the flicker of memory.

_Papyrus slumps, then gives the flower a wobbly smile. "YOU HELPED A LOT WHEN I WAS WORKING OUT HOW TO HIDE IT -"_

_::I can keep watch for you!::_

"you bastard," _::straining to say something, to move, to show that he's still here::_ "stay the hell away from my brother," Sans whispers, drowning in memories that haven't been triggered since the time-loop they were made in ended.

_"- THANK YOU!"_

_::THANK YOU, BEST FRIEND!::_

"WHAT'S -" "Oh, my -" "I-is he -"

Sans is up, moving, ignores the shouts and worry as he takes a shortcut 

 

_have to remember this, have to show pap i can handle this, have to remember this, have to keep this have to know have to remember_

 

Sans reappears in his workshop, his half-assed lab, and heads straight for his notes - he has to write this down, _now,_ he doesn't know how much time he has -

> PAPYRUS KNOWS
> 
> he remembers the resets ALL of them even after he gets killed
> 
> he remembers better than me
> 
> ~~he told me~~ I kept Falling Down when he told me so he stopped
> 
> he stopped before the human even fell
> 
> he's gone through all of them knowing what happens
> 
> the human is going to kill me next time and he'll se

  
  
Frisk hangs in the emptiness, hugging emself, shaking. It's a far cry from the triumph ey felt the last time ey was here, but - ey couldn't take another moment of how _wrong_ that run was. First Papyrus was acting weird, and then Undyne vanished...

Chara is just as uneasy as em, but hides it behind bravado as they always do. "Still think there's no consequences?"

Frisk bristles. This - it's not _eir_ fault! Ey hadn't done anything to make Papyrus act differently!

Ey stares at the familiar buttons.

RESET CONTINUE

Biting eir lip, ey reaches out.

It was just a coincidence. Yes. Absolutely.

This time, this Run, everything will be just like it should.

 

Sans wakes up with the uneasy feeling that means the last time-cycle was a bad one. He shortcuts to his lab, wondering if he's left himself any helpful clues. (He might not have had a chance. That's happened, before now.) (He might not have wanted to remember. That has, too.)

He stares in disbelief at the last entry in his log.

> PAPYRUS KNOWS
> 
> he remembers the resets ALL of them even after he gets killed
> 
> he remembers better than me
> 
> ~~he told me~~ I kept Falling Down when he told me so he stopped
> 
> he stopped before the human even fell
> 
> he's gone through all of them knowing what happens
> 
> the human is going to kill me next time and he'll se

Somehow, all he can think is how the reset must have caught him mid-word.

 

Papyrus sighs as he checks the heat under the bubbling pots. One Run, he forgot to, and the sheer embarrassment of having to listen to Sans go on and on about his picking up the 'wrong' kitchen skills from Undyne (after they stopped the fire) has made sure he never does it again.

He feels ashamed of himself after his (interrupted) chat with Flowey. He must have made everyone so worried, the way he was acting! He probably scared the human, and just the thought of that is enough to make his soul sink. He'll have to make it up to them this time!

He nods to himself. This time he'll do it right! This time he'll show that he believes in them, despite the number of times they've killed him, despite how many other monsters they've killed...

He pushes the thought away. Judging someone harshly just because they _have_ done bad things doesn't help anyone, not the people they've hurt, certainly not them, and not even the person judging them. So there's no point. Much better to remind them that they _can_ be a good person - sometimes they'll act on it!

Which - the human was, that last time. Papyrus frowns to himself as he stirs his pasta. He _has_ to find a way of apologising without letting anyone know he remembers...

Sans pushes the door open. Papyrus spins, smile ready, lines planned out (he's so glad he took Flowey's advice and made a routine for today. It's much easier to keep Sans from noticing anything strange now he has his lines and responses to Sans' mood memorised).

Sans' eyesockets are completely black.

"hey, bro.

"we need to talk."

...This is new. "ABOUT WHAT?" Papyrus asks, pretending that the sauce absolutely needs to be stirred again.

"your memories."

The saucepan tips over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The promised link to the failed version](http://underfail.livejournal.com/1593.html). It has some scenes that didn't make it into this, but I like them. (Especially the not-really-an-omake.)

**Author's Note:**

> Next up, if it happens, will be fallout. Don't look forward to it too intently - I'd hate to disappoint you.


End file.
